The labor inspection is investigating about a thousand companies in the Canary Islands for possible cases of fraud with temporary employment regulation files (ERTE) during the coronavirus pandemic. According to information provided by the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security, inspectors are focusing their efforts on cases where suspicious worker movements have been detected. Specifically, in the exactly 976 businesses that are on the Islands under the scrutiny of state officials, out of a total of more than 26,000 throughout the country, new employees have been hired after the declaration of the state of alarm. However, the number of cases will surely increase in the future, since the investigations began very recently (in May) and to conclude the analysis of each file, at least several weeks are needed.
ERTEs are being fundamental for the survival of tens of thousands of companies throughout Spain. And, therefore, also to avoid hundreds of thousands of layoffs. Even more so in the Archipelago, by far the Autonomous Community most severely hit by the stoppage of tourist activity, which represents around 40% of its GDP. Around 30,000 businesses have joined the ERTEs in the Canary Islands since March 14, when the national alarm began, the vast majority due to force majeure. This type of ERTE, which the Ministry of Labor created ad hoc to prevent the collapse of the national productive fabric, entails exemptions and/or bonuses in companies' payments to Social Security, in addition to a series of benefits for affected employees. This is the reason why inspectors are investigating, above all, cases of entities that have enjoyed or enjoy these exemptions or bonuses in social security contributions and that, paradoxically, registered workers after the state of alarm was decreed. In short, fictitious workers to benefit more from the ERTE.
The casuistry includes from employees in suspension of activity who are actually still working illegally in the same company to people hired precariously to replace employees in ERTE, or also workers who are on reduced hours but are forced to work full time. Or simply people who are put on the payroll to collect from public coffers while the ERTE lasts. "The actions began in May, and given the dynamics of the inspections (planning, visit to the company, contribution and examination of labor and social security documentation and, where appropriate, preparation of reports and minutes), several weeks are required for their completion," say from the Ministry headed by Yolanda Díaz. For the moment, of the 976 files under investigation in the Autonomous Community, officials have already closed 63, while the remaining 913 are still being processed.
Of the 976 inspection reports, the vast majority, a total of 660, were filed against companies in the province of Las Palmas, compared to only 302 counted in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife demarcation. Thus, practically seven out of ten suspected cases of fraud with ERTE, exactly 68%, have occurred in businesses in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. It should be noted, however, that in the eastern peripheral islands, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, there are more companies than in La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. In other words: this apparent imbalance does not necessarily imply that the fraud pool is greater in the productive fabric of the province of Las Palmas, at least not in relative terms.
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